Pencil-lead-vending machine



C. E. SMELSER PENCIL LEAD VENDING MACHINE Mar. 3. 1925.

Filed Ju1y 13, 1925 2 Sheets-Shet i 8 a .li -lb itliw 4 ATToRriEY1,528,275 c. E. SMELSER PENCIL LEAD VENDING MACHINE F i1ed 1 15, 1925 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Mar. 3. 1925.

ATTORNEY SZ S er 7 Patented Mar. 3, 192.5.

UNITED?! enema E. enemas, or siinnnrvrimn, INDIANA.

retainers-wanin IVfACI-IINE.

A pu'caeoii filed my 13 1923; v saamalym.

To ante/ 20772 56 may comm; p I

Be it known thatl, Crrrsren E. SMELsEn,

a citizen of the United Stat-es, residing at Shelbyville, in the countyof Shelby and tate of Indiana; have invented new and usefulTmproven'ients 111 Penc1l-Lead-Vending' ltiachines, of which thefollowing is a specification. p p p This invention" is acoin-controlled"machine for vendingleads for refillablepen-y oils; andthe objectisf to provide a" small and compact device'that may be set ona' showcase or coiuiter and which'cannot be readily o'erated withoutthe'deposit" of a proper coin. v v H v I accomplish the above and otherobjects which will'be hereinafter disclosed by the mechanism illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1, is a vertical section onthe lines 11 of Figs. 2 and 6. Fig. 2, is a section on the lines 2-2 ofFigs. 1 and 5. Fig. 3, is a section on the lines 33 of Figs. 1 and 5.Fig. 4c, is a section on the lines 33 of Figs. 1 and 5 but showing thehand-lever and associated parts in lowered position.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of my invention and Fig. 6 is a sideelevation thereof.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts of the several views.

The vending mechanism is housed in a casing 7 which rests upon asuitable base 8 detachably secured thereto by a fastening 9, of anyusual or suitable construction.

Supported by and within the casing 7 are a pair of parallel plates 9 and10, here shown as near the right side of the casing,

and at the opposite or left side is a hopper 11, the bottom of whichslopes downwardly from rear to front to a slot at the lowest positionthrough which a vertically reciprocating plunger-plate 12 is operated bymeans presently to be described.

The leads to be vended are deposited in the hopper parallel with theabove mentioned slot and are fed by gravity to the slot. The upper edgeof the plunger is beveled toward a partition plate 13 against which theplate has a sliding bearing. A wrist-pin 14 seated near the lower end ofthe plunger-plate passes through a slot 15 in the bearing plate 18 andis connected with a link bar 16, which in turn is pivotally attached atits other end to the long arm of a lever 17 pivoted to an extension ofplate 13 as shown in Fig. 1.

The short arni of lever 17 crosses a coinslot 18, in the front ofcasing7 and helps to form a stop to arrest the coinf Secured to the front ofcasing 7 are the two parallel plates 9 and 10 which have the coin-slotbetween them and assist in gu ding thecoin in its course; re ea e s.rear extension of plate 10is"a hand-lever 191whichpasses out through averticalslot21lin'the front of easing far enough; to .befconvenientlymanipulatedi A spring 22 holds the lever norma llyagainst the upper" endof slot 21. Formed in th e lever 181a longitudinal" slot 23 through"whiclifla pin 24:, seated in a plung'e'r 25 passes. The plunger 25 hasvertical movement between the two plates 9 and 10 and the plate 10 has aslot 26 through which the pin 24.- passes to the hand-lever. Another pin27 seated in plunger 25 passes out through slot 26 to hold a verticalposition of the plunger.

When the lever 19 is lowered after a coin insertion, the plunger isbrought by it against the coin held by lever 17, and the lever 17 isactuated by a further downward movement of lever 19, thereby raising theplunger-plate 12 and elevating a lead to position of discharge bygravitv. into a vending trough 28. The forwardlv beveled upper end ofthe plate 12 causes the lead carried by it to roll off toward the frontinto said trough.

The discharge opening from the hopper to the trough is normally closedby a depending door 30, held shut by a spring 31 to keep the leads frombeing abstracted therethrough by turning the device upside down.Interference with the lead carried by the plunger is avoided by curvingthe lower edge of the door 30 in the manner shown in Fig. 3. Thespring-actuated door 30 also acts to discharge the lead from the plungerinto the vending trough 28.

As a coin is forced downward by the plunger 25, a dog 31. pivoted at 32to the plate 10 and held in normal position by a spring 33 against theend of lever 17, is forced backward by a knife-edge 34: formed on thedog. lVhen the coin has travelled almost far enough to discharge a leadas shown in Fig. 1, the contact of the knifeedge against the coin willprevent upward movement of the coin and keep it from being therebymanipulated to discharge more than one lead. An incline 6 at the frontof the casing lifts the coin off of lever 17 and rolls it back into themachine, where it drops to the bottom.

Should the lever 17 be tampered with by a pick in an effort to dischargea lead without the deposit of a coin, the hook 36 on dog 31 will arrestthe lever 17 as it is forced downwardly and lock it. The underside ofthe end of lever 17 is beveled at 37 to more positively engage with thehook on the dog.

A curved slot 39 in plate 10 is for the passage of the knife-edge fromthe dog, and the vertical slot 40 in plate 10 is for the free travel oflever 17.

The operation of the device has been so fully described in connectionwith the detailed description of its parts, that further explanation isdeemed unnecessary.

Vhile I have here shown the best embodiment of my invention now known tome it is obvious that the mechanism may be varied in many ways withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

I therefore do not desire to be bound unduly to the means here shown anddescribed nor any more than is required by the appended claims, and whatI claim is 1. In a pencil lead-vending machine, a vertical plate, ahopper having a discharge opening next to the plate toward which itslopes, a plunger-plate reciprocating vertically through the dischargeopening to lift a lead to the top of the first plate, and pressure meansto discharge the lead from the plunger-plate.

2. In a pencil lead-vending machine, a vertical plate, a hopper having adischarge opening next to the plate toward which it slopes, aplunger-plate reciprocating vertically through the discharge opening tolift a lead to the top of the first plate, and

spring means to discharge the lead from the plunger-plate across the topof the first plate.

3. In a pencil lead-vending machine, a vertical plate, a hopper having adischarge opening next to the plate toward which it slopes, aplunger-plate reciprocating through the discharge opening to lift a leadand discharge it over the top of the plate, the upper end of saidplunger-plate being beveled toward the vertical plate to form a leadholding receptacle and spring means to dis--' charge the lead from theplunger-plate.

Signed at Indianapolis, Indiana, this the 5th day of July, 1923.

CHESTER E. SMELSER.

